Bhubaneswar: The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind presented Nari Shakti Puraskar for the years 2020 and 2021 on the occasion of International Women’s Day at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday.
Noted PwD rights activist and founder of Bhubaneswar-based NGO ‘Swabhiman’, Dr Sruti Mohapatra was awarded the Nari Shakti Puraskar for 2021. Total 14 awards were given away for the year 2021, while as many women received the prestigious award for 2020.
“Odisha’s Sruti Mohapatra, a disability rights activist is a former Chairperson of the Odisha State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and a current Member of the National Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is known as the ‘Crusader in a Wheelchair’,” the President’s office stated in a press release.
In 2001, she founded ‘Swabhiman’ and ‘SHARE’, NGOs working for upliftment of divyangjan in Odisha. She also founded Project Anjali for Divyang children to showcase their talents and other projects for education and selfemployment support for Divyangjan.
Mohapatra worked for the passage of the PWD Act in 1996 and the RPWD Act in 2016. She was awarded with Vidya Bhawan Social Service Award in 2013 and National Young Scientist Award in 1992.
“The Nari Shakti Puruskar is awarded to her indomitable spirit and for outstanding contribution towards upliftment and empowerment of Divyangjan,” it added.
